After a futile attempt, led by Artemis Silvertree, to recover a magical crystal, my party, fearing attack from the undead that plagued the town that previous night, decided to patrol, one led by Artemis, and the other by Angus Ebonheart, leaving myself and the templar, Chalene Silvermoure, behind to defend the town if it was attacked.
The
patrols had just left the town when I spied a figure moving down the edge of the
forest toward town. I set aside my guitar, which I was playing quite
magnificently I might add, and unsheathed my bastard sword. As the figure drew
nearer, I began to make out features, black skin and white hair...a Drae. I knew
Sabastian Coe and some others had done battle with a band of Drae during the
night, and feared the worst. I told Chalene to get ready to run for help if I
failed, and waited for the Drae to arrive.
Having
encountering Drae before on my travels, I knew them to be outstanding fighters.
I did not doubt I could slay this one, but he had, as of yet, done me nor
Chalene any ill. Once he was within earshot, I called out a greeting, which he
returned when he was at the town’s edge. I introduced myself and asked if I
could be of assistance. He told me that he and his companions had been attacked
by a group of dark dwarbes, and that some precious items had been stolen. Always
in the mood for new adventures to sing about, I agreed to help. Chalene ws still
vary cautious, and decided to stay behind to gaurd the town. Just as myself and
the Drae, who I learned was called No-name, were preparing to leave the town,
Artemis and his patrol returned and offered to assist us. We accepted and I even
persuaded Chalene to accompany us.
Our
small party of six began traveling to the place where the Drae were ambushed. It
was a long journey, but along the way, we met up with Angus and his patrol
(oddly enough, Dinin, our Drae companion was nowhere to be seen). They too
joined the party, bolstering our number to nearly ten. As we traveled, No-name
told us that we were up against five or six dark dwaves with shields. It was
decided that Angus and myself, being the two best fighters in the party, should
lead the assault.
When
we arrived at the ambush site, we saw a small, but wellarmed and armoured band
of dark dwarves. No-name charged down the steep bank between ua and the dwarves,
and kept them at baay with his bow. Knowing that the Drae could not keep the
dwarves away for very long, Angus and I picked out a dwarf and charged to the
Drae’s aid. The dwarf we attacked was obviosly not accustomed to dealing with
suchexcell;ent swordsmen as Angus and I, and was asily slaughted. The rest of
the party followed our example of bravery and joined in the fray. Cries of the
wounded and dying filled the air, but in the end, the dwarves werte destroyed.
We
searched the surrounding forest for No-name’s belongings, and found a small
chest. Fearing it was trapped, I unselfishly offered to open it. Unfortunatly,
it was trapped and a cloud of black gas enveloped me and the rest of the party
causing us to sleep. When I awakened, I heard the sounds of battle. Looking
around, I saw more dark dwarves standing over the fallen body of Aelander, one
of my companions. Angus and I again led a vicious counterattack, but Angus was
hit and knocked unconciouss. I screamed for Chalene to heal him and dealt quick
vengeance to his attacker. A short while later, the remaining few dwarves were
slain.
We’d
only lost one of our comrades in the skirmishes, Aelander, but he was
successfully resurrected. No-name took a few personal items and donated the rest
to the party, which we divided evenly. No-name promised to visit us again, and
gave us his deepest thanks.
Fenswick Goldtongue
Fenswick
Goldtongue
bard extraordinaire